


Son of the Moon

by WinterdaySmoothie



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Childhood, Childhood Memories, Childhood Trauma, Gen, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:29:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25834276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterdaySmoothie/pseuds/WinterdaySmoothie
Summary: Gilbert wanders out his house inbthe middle of the night to contemplate the moon and reflexes on his past. His nation was dissolved not long ago and he questions his own existence, memories of his childhood flood to him while he is accompanied by the moon in a cold winter night.
Kudos: 8





	Son of the Moon

**Author's Note:**

> This is a one shot inspired by a Spanish song: Hijo de la Luna by Mecano. Simply reposting it from my hetalia amino account.

It was one of those nights again, when the full moon was out, shining so brightly on the utter black and starless sky. Gilbert glanced at it through the window of his room, after living all these years, he had found the moon as his sole companion. She was out there with him every single night, since the moment he took his first breath and would still be there the day his eyes closed to never again open. She was out now, in her full splendor, her silver rays illuminating the pitch-black darkness. Some nights her grandeur would be opaqued by the clouds but he knew that she was still there, hiding behind those clouds in the coal-black night.

The Prussian had always admired the moon, he had a personal connection with her somehow. Even though she was so distant from him, but she was so close at the same time. As he stared out of his window, he recalled his childhood. How terrifying it had been, and how lonely he felt all the time. He was a nation, unlike the other children. The other infants had parents or some type of family that would take care of them but not him. Gilbert was a solitary being, did he even have a mother? He often wondered, or else how did he come to this world? His existence made little to no sense to him and even now that he was no longer a child, many questions continue to remain.

It wasn't until the Prussian's nation was dissolved that he began admiring the moon so intently like he used to do when he was a boy. That strange fascination about her had returned, now he found himself standing outside of his house in the cold night, gazing upon her opulence. There were no stars that night to outshine her and no clouds to cover her magnificence, it was just the moon and Gilbert. Mother and son, meeting once again after her rebellious child had abandoned her for so long in the pursuit of worldly things. The Prussian had so many things to say yet nothing could come out from his sore throat. He wanted to apologize for stopping contemplating her every night as he used to in his boyhood. He wanted to apologize for his haughty attitude and forgetting her. For his pride and failing to remember where he came from.

He had lost it all, his kingdom was gone, it was dissolved. Gilbert thought that the moment he learned about it he would die, but it didn't happen. A few years have passed since then and he is still living, breathing, and feeling. Why? He often wondered why he was still alive, his entire purpose of existence was gone. He recalled how surprised his brother was when he saw him, still alive. Everyone thought that he would be dead, but he wasn’t. A very similar thing happened to him when he was a child. It has been far too long for him to remember exactly what happened but he was hurt by a group of people because of his appearance. They thought he was the offspring of the devil, so they tried to kill him. To their surprise, however, he didn’t die. Gilbert was wounded but he survived, he felt the pain but endured it. The people were surprised by who this mystery child was. Not quite a god but not quite a human either, what was he, really?

Alienated since birth, taken to battles and dressed in uniform, could be hurt and defeated but never die. Gilbert had all sorts of questions about himself growing up and no one could give him a proper answer. Until he met an old and wise lady, she was like his caretaker when he was still an infant. This old woman whose name he can’t remember dressed him and fed him each day. Treated him with kindness and love unlike his superior, a terrifying man that made him fight even though he was just a child. Not her, however, she was probably the only person who treated him like a normal child, allowing him to show his childish side and listened to him talk about his adventures and the people and creatures he would encounter in his journeys. This old lady was the only one who ever gave him an answer to his unanswerable question. 

“Who am I, grandmother?”

The child asked, sitting down on the floor nearby the fire to get warmth, stretching his tiny hands towards the fire that illuminated the room.

“Who do you think you are, Gilbert?”

The woman replied, sitting down right beside him with a groan, her old age made her body ache and her movements became slower with the years.

“I do not know, nobody seems to know who my parents could be or who gave me a name.”

He replied in a saddened tone, staring at the fire that provided them warmth in a dark and cold night.

“I can’t possibly just appear in the world, right?”

The albino persisted, his red eyes glancing at the grandmother who smiled at him and nodded wisely before running her wrinkled fingers in his silver-white hair.

“There was a woman once, who conjured the moon until daylight. Crying, she pleaded the moon to let her marry the man of her dreams, that was from another tribe.”

The child shifted his attention to her, listening carefully to the story that the old lady was going to tell.

“You’ll have your man, said the moon in her splendor from the sky. But in exchange, I want the first child you have with him, proposed the moon.”

Gilbert was speechless this time, he would typically interrupt in the stories she would tell but not this time, he wanted to know more about it.

“From a dark skin father, a boy was born as white as the loin of an ermine and with red eyes instead of olive black, an albino child from the moon.”

The woman spoke, and the Prussian was surprised, the description of that boy sounded just like him, could it be that he was that boy?  
“The man, fearing that the child was not his, went to his wife and asked him about the origin of the boy, but she did not reply. Angered, with the child in his arms, he took the boy to the mountains and abandoned him there.”

The woman noticed the startled look in Gilbert’s eyes and caressed his pale face with her cold and bonelike hands as she grinned at him, trying to comfort him before ending the tale.

“The nights when the moon is out is because the boy is in a good mood, and the nights she is gone, the boy is throwing a tantrum.”

The Prussian sat closer to his caretaker, resting his head on her bony shoulder and she gently played with his hair.

“Am I the son of the moon?”

He asked, his voice was a bit shaky, unsure of his new identity, and the story of his origin, it sounded convincing but he just needed her to confirm it.

“Of course, child.”

She stood up with the help of the boy and then took him by the hand, as they slowly walked out of their little cottage to glance up at the sky where the full moon was, shining brightly as ever and illuminating the darkness. It was then that Gilbert adopted a new identity as the son of the moon. That idea stuck with him for many many years, even when he was older and discovered that it was a mere legend to explain why the moon appeared some nights and why some nights it didn’t. Yet, he was still convinced and held onto the idea that the moon was his mother. After all, they had a lot in common, she has been there since the beginning of time and he has been in the world for a very long time. 

So there he was, standing in the cold glaring at the moon, his only motherly figure after his “grandmother” died. That was probably the first time he considered death as a possibility. Since he couldn’t die, he thought that the people around him wouldn’t die either. It was a foolish thought but as a child, he believed that his few loved ones would always remain by her side. Until she died, in their home, resting so peacefully on her bed. Her body was cold and more wrinkled than usual and her hair had turned completely gray. At first, the boy was sure that she would wake up or that she would come back, but as the days passed, he concluded that it would not happen. That she was gone, and would never wait for him with a warm meal prepared and cure his wounds, tell him bedtime stories and contemplate the moon on the darkest nights.

“Bruder?”

Ludwig saw his brother from the balcony, Gilbert was standing outside of the house in the open field, sobbing loudly while looking at the sky. The German was concerned for his brother, it wasn’t the first time that this happened. It started since Prussia was dissolved, he would catch Gil outside in the cold, in the snow even, just talking to himself, often weeping when the moon was out. Ludwig wasn’t the best when talking about emotions and feelings but he knew that something was off with his brother and frankly, he was worried.

“Bruder, what are you doing out here in this cold and at this time?”

Gilbert heard his little brother’s voice, turning around immediately sort of getting out of his trance. That’s when he felt the droplets of water falling from his eyes, was he crying? He didn’t even notice that he was in that state. He looked down at himself and saw himself wearing pajamas, standing barefoot on the grass and he was starting to feel the chilly wind blowing. 

“West, I-I was just looking at the moon.”

Ludwig had come out wearing a coat on top of his pajama and took it off to place it on his brother’s freezing body, he was surely going to get sick if he kept standing outside.

“Ja, it’s pretty tonight.”

The German tried to understand how Gilbert might be feeling, so he wasn’t going to scold him on why he was doing outside so late and in that weather. These last years have been so hard for both of them, and the last thing they needed was to argue or get upset. They only had each other and no one else, nobody shared that bond the two of them had.

“Let’s go back inside, I’m freezing out here!”

The Prussian chuckled, now he was acting like his old self. Looking back at the moon once more with a sneer. Maybe he wasn’t as lonely as he thought he was. He had his little brother, although Ludwig was the one taking care of him now, it didn’t matter because brothers were supposed to do that, right? Surely his grandmother would have believed the same thing.

“Let’s go, bruder.”


End file.
